He was one of the best middle distance runners New Bedford High had produced in years, and those legs would continue to carry him to glory both on and off the athletic field.

It was mid-May of 1940 and New Bedford High and Fairhaven were paired in the first local dual meet of the season. It was also the final high school season for Crimson ace, Warren Mendez.

There was a buzz swirling around Sargent Field that spring afternoon as two of the area's better track teams prepared for battle. Fairhaven was led by its "Fly and Sky" duo of Ernie Langevin and George Hadfield, while Mendez co-headlined a balanced Crimson squad that was capable of dominating any event.

Sometime after Langevin had sprinted to victory in the 100-yard dash with a time of 10.6, Fairhaven got more points from Hadfield when he captured first place in the high jump event with a leap of 5-11. It was a record jump for the Fairhaven standout who not only shattered the record for Sargent Field (the previous mark had been 5-8 3/4 set by Jack Hibbits of New Bedford) but broke the Fairhaven school record of 5-10 1/8 set by Pop McGowan six years earlier.

But those two first place efforts would be the only events Fairhaven would win as New Bedford captured the remaining seven events to cruise to a surprisingly easy, 57-20, victory.

One of firsts came compliments of Mendez, who breezed to victory in his specialty, the 880-yard run with a record-setting time of 2:07.2. The Crimson comet had broken the Sargent Field half-mile record formerly held by "Blondy" Pocius of Brockton by 2.9 seconds.

Two years later, Mendez was involved in another record run, this one as a member of the Bridgeton Academy track team. He didn't set the record, but in his head-to-head battle with Colby's Gerston "Red" Weinstein, he pushed the latter hard enough to allow his former New Bedford High School teammate to set a new mark in the 600-yard event. With Mendez on his heels the entire the race, Weinstein won the race in the record time of 1:18.7. In that same meet, Mendez ran to victory in the 1,000-yard event with a time of 2:25.0 and added more points with an excellent performance in the 300. Mendez ended the year as one of the prolific individual scorers in the 1942 Maine Intercollegiate Track season.

But before the end of January, Mendez was running for Uncle Sam and, a year later, he was running for his life.

The United States was at war with both Germany and Japan, and after realizing his country meant more to him than his track career, Mendez made the decision to leave school and enlist in the army. In December of 1943, word reached New Bedford that the former track star had been awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action. On April 25, 1944, The Standard-Times published a story, detailing the heroic actions of New Bedford's native son.

"Once wasn't enough," the opening paragraph began. "Possible capture or death at German hands did not deter Sergeant Warren Mendez, son of Mr. and Mrs. Olympio J. Mendez of 70 Dartmouth St., from twice voluntarily crawling through a German line after the enemy had infiltrated behind his patrol on the Anzio beachhead in Italy, a 5th Army dispatch reported."

Mendez was a member of an advanced patrol moving into German territory. According to the story, when a volunteer was called to check the rear area, Mendez raised his hand and put his talented legs in motion.

Moving cautiously toward the German line, Mendez almost stumbled into an enemy machine-gun nest hastily established after his patrol had passed on. He was close enough to hear the Germans and he saw the gun but Mendez, somehow, managed to avoid confrontation and slipped pass. Sometimes running but mostly crawling, Mendez reached Allied lines and reported the German infiltration. But the information had to be relayed to the advanced patrol he had left, so without hesitation, Mendez volunteered to again venture through German lines and warn his patrol of the enemy's whereabouts.

Because of his heroic actions, Mendez was awarded the Silver Star. The presentation came months after he had taken part in the invasions of Sicily and Salerno where he earned the Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds he received in both legs.

But, through it all, Mendez managed to stand tall.

Just as they had in high school and college, his legs had served him well.